Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav has told the Supreme Court that he has a “prima facie good case on merit” to establish his innocence in the fodder scam cases, claiming it was only at his instance that at least 41 first information reports (FIRs) came to be registered in connection to the multi-crore scam.
Submitting an affidavit to defend a 2020 Jharkhand high court order that suspended his five-year jail term in one of the fodder scam cases, Yadav maintained that he was erroneously convicted by the trial court in 2018 relying on some “wholly unreliable” statements of approvers and his alleged proximity with the “kingpins” of the scam. Yadav said that the two “kingpins” — SB Sinha (then joint regional director, animal husbandry department, Ranchi; now deceased) and Ram Raj Ram (director, animal husbandry department) — remained at their posts without any intervention by him.
While the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) accused Yadav of shielding the accused, the RJD leader’s affidavit contended that it was he who directed registration of FIRs, pursuant to which 41 FIRs were lodged in relation to the scam. “Such reliance on each of the aforementioned circumstances is wholly untenable, and the innocence of the respondent can be established on the basis of material on record,” stated his affidavit.
The fodder scam is a set of 55 cases relating to the fraudulent withdrawals of an estimated ₹950 crore from the state treasury, mostly between 1992 and 1995, when Yadav was the chief minister of Bihar. Officials of the state animal husbandry department would allegedly withdraw money against fake bills of fodder, medicine and artificial insemination equipment. Yadav had the departments of animal husbandry and finance under him at the time. The former CM has so far been held guilty in five fodder scam cases, with his punishment ranging between three-and-half years to seven years in jail. CBI has named Yadav as an accused in six cases.
According to CBI charge sheets in the case, Yadav suppressed evidence of corruption in the animal husbandry department and protected key officials involved, including Sinha and Ram. While Sinha was one of the authorised visitors to the then CM’s children studying at a school in Ranchi, the agency has maintained, Yadav wrote letters of recommendation for Ram.
Yadav’s affidavit has been filed in response to CBI’s appeal against an order of the Jharkhand high court in October 2020, suspending his five-year sentence in a case related to fraudulent withdrawal of ₹37.62 crore from the Chaibasa (now part of Jharkhand) treasury in 1992-93. The high court noted that Yadav had spent 30 months behind bars in connection with the fodder scam cases and that the disposal of his appeal is likely to take some time. This was the first FIR in the fodder scam cases.
Challenging this order, CBI argued in the top court that Yadav cannot be granted the benefit of suspension of sentence on the ground that he has spent half the period of the total jail term awarded to him because he has been sentenced separately under the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. According to the federal agency, not only the determination of the half-period of custody undergone would have to take into account the jail term suffered separately under the two statutes but also that Yadav must be directed to be incarcerated for half of the sum total of all sentences awarded to him before his sentence can be suspended.
Responding, Yadav said in his affidavit that CBI’s contentions are “misconceived” in the wake of the uniform principle of half-sentence where the period of custody undergone for offences under the IPC and PC Act has been considered to operate as concurrent sentences even when the trial court judgment specifically ordered the sentences to run consecutively.
“The said uniform principles and precedents cannot be sought to be interfered by way of the present petition, which is wholly misconceived, under response. The respondent, a senior citizen, cannot be subjected to an arbitrarily different standard from all other co-accused in the fodder scam in the appeals filed before the Jharkhand high court...the consideration of the time spent in custody ought to be an objective assessment regardless of the accused in question,” maintained Yadav, claiming that CBI, in cases relating to some other accused, had admitted to concurrent running of sentences for calculating the period of custody for the purpose of suspension of sentence.
The primary reason for granting suspension of sentence is the unlikelihood of an appeal being heard expeditiously, stated the affidavit, pointing out that the Jharkhand high court only takes up appeals arising out of the fodder scam cases on Fridays.
“There is therefore no likelihood of the appeal of the respondent herein getting heard expeditiously, and it is for that reason that on applying the half-sentence rule, the respondent was entitled to grant of suspension of sentence in terms of the law laid down by this honourable court,” it said.
Terming CBI’s reliance on a chart to indicate the period spent by him in hospital after conviction “wholly mischievous”, Yadav said he was suffering from various life-threatening aliments and had to undergone a kidney transplant on December 5, 2022, at a hospital in Singapore where he was strongly advised to take precautions otherwise it may turn fatal.
“Apart from the same, the respondent also suffers from age-related ailments and other co-morbidities, which have required frequent medical intervention since his release pursuant to the impugned order... As such, no useful purpose would be served by setting aside the impugned order and directing the respondent, who is in such a frail state of affairs, to be remanded to custody,” he added.
Yadav urged the top court not to interfere with the order suspending his sentence which, he said, was granted on the basis of acceptable uniform principles and precedents.
The Supreme Court is expected to take up a bunch of appeals filed by CBI against the suspension of sentence and grant of bail to Yadav in different fodder scam cases on August 25.
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